ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Roughly three dozen people gathered at a Venezuelan restaurant Saturday afternoon to express relief and gratitude that Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro was removed from power in an overnight raid hours earlier.
Claudia Canelon, the owner of La Bicicleta, an arepa bar on Union Boulevard, invited the Venezuelan community to gather at the restaurant for a moment of celebration and prayer.
The region's Venezuelan population had been waiting for years for Maduro to fall from power — he claimed a second term during a constitutional crisis in 2019 and international observers say he committed mass election fraud to claim a third term in 2024.
And while she did not expect it would come from direct U.S. intervention, Canelon expressed hope that an opportunity for change was dawning in Venezuela.
"The most important thing is that what was said for years would happen has finally happened," Canelon said through a translator.
Following the improptu gathering, Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk expressed joy that Maduro had been forced from power.
As someone of Cuban heritage, he said, he identified with the struggles of Venezuelans fleeing the country as the nation's democracy slid into authoritarianism.
"As Allentonians are thrilled about Maduro’s removal, I am right there with them," he said.
After months of applying pressure and bombing what it called drug runner ships in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific Ocean, the Trump administration approved a military operation in Caracas to seize Maduro and Venezuelan first lady Cilia Flores and extradite them to the United States.
During his first term, the Trump administration indicted the couple on drug trafficking charges, alleging they used their country's resources to run an international cartel. Before leaving office, President Joe Biden's administration raised the reward for turning in Maduro from $25 million to $50 million.
"The most important thing is that what was said for years would happen has finally happened."Claudia Canelon, Allentown restaurant owner
Maduro's rule has seen Venezuela's economy crumble and result in an international refugee crisis — about 8 million Venezuelans have left the country since Maduro came to power, according to the United Nations.
Tuerk said that about 3,000 of Allentown's residents are Venezuelan, many of whom have settled here in recent years.
Still, he expressed concern over President Trump's statement that the U.S. would be taking over Venezuela, at least temporarily.
He hoped that American officials would partner with Venezuelan officials to help them restore their country to a modern democracy instead of beginning a lengthy occupation.
"It really needs to be led by the Venezuelan people," Tuerk said, pointing to recent Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, a former Venezuelan lawmaker who has been promoting democracy in her homeland even after being forced into exile.
'Safer and more secure'
U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh Valley, shared that view.
He hailed the Trump administration's actions in a news release issued Saturday afternoon.
"Maduro was an illegitimate dictator and narcoterrorist who funneled drugs into the United States — killing countless young Americans," said Mackenzie, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "As a result of this operation, the United States, the western hemisphere and the broader world are safer and more secure."
On the campaign trail last year, Mackenzie was critical of American military intervention overseas, saying the Biden administration should not have sent aid and weapons to Ukraine as it fended off the Russian invasion.
But he approved of the plan to have American leadership oversee the country until a peaceful transition to Venezuelan authorities can take place.
"Congressman Mackenzie understands that while the focus of this effort in Venezuela was to capture an indicted narocterrorist who was illegitimately claiming to be the president of Venezuela through fraudulent elections, we must now ensure that the Venezuelans quickly move to self-governance and that the U.S. does not get involved in another long-term conflict," said Arnaud Armstrong, a spokesman for Mackenzie's office.
